Villains Are Meant to Be Loved // Top Ten Tuesday

This week’s topic is all about villains! I love books, but I like talking about TV shows as well, so we’re going to look at 10 great TV villains.

1 >>> Whitney Frost (Agent Carter)

This is the main villain of the second season of the superb Agent Carter. I love the fact that Whitney Frost was a regular screen siren on the surface, but she was the brains behind her political marriage and she was a scientific and mathematical genius. She craved power, which made sense being an aging actress in Hollywood in the 1940s, so it was interesting to see a villain who you were kind of cheering on at the same time.

2 >>> Dottie Underwood (Agent Carter)

So many great female villains and so little time to explore it all #BringBackAgentCarter. Dottie had a Black Widow-esque background and was definitely the bad girl, but she was also interesting and had a faux friendship with Peggy before the latter realized who she was, and she had some delightful cameos in the second season. Seriously, bring back this show now, please.

3 >>> Rebekah Mikaelson (The Vampire Diaries)

She might be a semi-protagonist on The Originals now, but she was also a bit of an antagonist on the parent show first. She was a classic mean girl, only she had been around for many centuries and was an immortal high schooler who had never been to high school. She pulled some bad stunts – she’s the reason main girl Elena finally became a vampire, after all – but she was also a bit of a broken girl who just wanted to be loved, so I can’t help but feel for her as well.

4 >>> Katherine Pierce (The Vampire Diaries)

Katherine just had so much fun being bad, and it was great seeing Nina Dobrev play such a different character from her regular Elena Gilbert one. Like most villains on The Vampire Diaries, there’s more to her than glib and sarcastic quips, so that just made her more interesting. I hope she manages a comeback in this upcoming final season even though she’s dead

5 >>> James Moriarty (Sherlock)

All the Sherlock hype has gotten to me a bit, but I still maintain that its Moriarty is both brilliant and terrifying. He scares me so much, but in a kind of entertaining way. He’ll be back in the long-gestating series 4 – I don’t know how, but I’m definitely looking forward to that.

6 >>> Santanico Pandemonium (From Dusk Till Dawn)

I’m behind on season 2, where Santanico is more of a protagonist, but in the first season, she was a bit of a ambiguous character who seemed to simply be in the head of another character. We didn’t quite know if she was good or bad, but she definitely had her villainous traits.

7 >>> Helena (Orphan Black)

Again, this is a character who started off as an ambiguous villain who we couldn’t quite trust. She was a clone, like the rest of Tatiana Maslany’s characters (yay for finally winning Emmy gold!), but she was going after her sestras – and she has some of the most terrifying theme music that I have ever heard (“We Meet Helena” starts at 6:25).

8 >>> Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)

Rebecca is the protagonist of this show, but she’s often her own worst enemy. It makes her quite relatable, but I also just want to give Rebecca both a big hug and a smack upside her head to see if I can knock some sense into her.

9 >>> Wilhelmina Slater (Ugly Betty)

Oh, how I miss this show – I really need to finish the last season or so (binge-watch!). Anyway, Wilhelmina was delightful, a very catty and kick-ass woman in charge. And, like most of the villains on this list, there was more to her than her biting comments and outward, surface cruelty and we also came to really care for her over the years.

10 >>> Harrison Wells (The Flash)

Yep, another show I’m behind on, but Wells was quite an intriguing villain throughout the first season. He was both a mentor and a villain, hiding in plain sight and appearing to us as a villain early on but to no one else. This led to some very emotional scenes, especially a certain one with Cisco Ramon, and I’m glad to hear that he shows up again in season 2.

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4 thoughts on “Villains Are Meant to Be Loved // Top Ten Tuesday”

I’m pretty sure that Moriarty will forever be my favorite TV show villain. I love how twisted and unpredictable he is– not to mention his unbelievably clever plans and the way he toys with Sherlock incessantly. I can’t wait for the next season to be released! 🙂

Katherine Pierce 😍 I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually miss this crazy Vampire! Also, Harrison Wells was truly epic! I was feeling sad when I saw the first season finale as I thought that was the end of his fantastic character.. Don’t you think that you missed mentioning Klaus from TVD? He was someone I loved to hate! Also, Damon Salvatore started as a Villain but later worked his way into our hearts 💕 You should also totally check out Slade from season 2 of Arrow. Loved your article!

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Welcome to The Reading Shelf! I’m Genevieve, a mainly-YA reader who spends too much time on the computer and reads or writes when I’m not doing that. This is a blog with reviews, recaps, and other book-related posts. Feel free to leave comments and feedback, but please be polite!

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